Gym Trainee
by dani's random fox
Summary: Roark has an opening at his gym for a Gym Trainer. Lia wants to join, but her partner Larvitar adamantly disagrees. Can she convince her stubborn Larvitar to allow her to join? Roark certainly hopes so. RoarkOC
1. Chapter 1

Hiya! My first Pokémon fic, tell me what you think, please! I love Roark, and I didn't see many stories with him in them, so I thought "What the hell! Let's give it a shot!"

I don't own Pokémon.

Chapter One

"What do you think, Dew?" Lia asked her Larvitar his opinion on her choice of clothes. Dew the Larvitar sat on her bed and watched apathetically as his Trainer tried to pick an outfit. Dew glanced out the window. He loved their little house. It was just the two of them. He frowned. Dew didn't want to share his Trainer with anyone else.

"_Dew_," Lia whined. "_Help meeeee_…I need to look nice for my interview. Or do I? Should I dress up, or down? I mean, I know I won't be wearing a dress while I'm working, but still…"

Lia noticed Dew wasn't paying attention. "Dew! Come on! Help me. This is a team effort." Dew snorted and looked away. Lia set aside her clothes and kneeled in front of her Pokémon.

"Dew, do you want to do this? Are you unhappy with this? If you don't want to do it, we don't have to. I know you don't want to move. But this will still be our home. We will come back on the weekends. Gyms aren't open on the weekends and holidays. Benefits of being a Gym Trainer," she grinned, then sobered. "It's a great honor to even be _considered_ for a Gym Trainer."

Dew's eyes locked with hers. Her eyes were full of concern, and a little disappointment. "If you don't want to, then we won't. Do you want this?"

Lia watched her Larvitar shake his head vigorously. Her eyes filled with regret. "Okay, Dew. If that's what you want. I…I just thought maybe…you'd _want_ to do this."

"Lar Lar!" Dew shook his head.

Lia straightened up, "Okay then. Well…what should I wear?"

Dew looked at her incredulously. "Dew," Lia said over her shoulder. "I have to cancel our appointment. And I have to do it in person. You don't make an appointment with a Gym Leader to be a Gym Trainer and then call and say you can't do it. It's rude. We have to go in person and apologize. I respect your wish to not do this, please respect mine."

"Now, this shirt…or this one?"

* * *

"Just a little more, just a bit further…" he muttered as he reached into the hole to excavate a fossil. The hole was in the wall, near the floor. It was big enough for him to stick his head in, which he did. His headlight shined on the fossil, and all he had to do was grab it. "C'mon, almost…"

"Roark!" The voice reverberated in the hole and doubled in volume.

"Gah!" Roark jumped. Due to the small space, his head smacked against the ceiling and the little cave began to crumble. Someone jerked him back and Roark watched in horror as the cave closed in with the fossil sealed inside. He couldn't dig in to save it. The cave would just continue to crumble. It was a lost cause.

"Damn!" Roark pounded his fist on the ground. "I was so close!"

"I-I'm sorry, Roark, sir." The worker stammered. He was around the same age as Roark, and new to mining. He was from the city and easily put-off.

"No," Roark sighed. "You did no wrong. I was unmindful to my surroundings when I should have paid attention. You know how I get with fossils…"

"Yes, sir."

Roark stood, "That was a good one, too. A fossil of an ancient Golbat, I believe…damn…"

"I'm sorry, sir."

"No, no. Please don't blame yourself. It was my fault for being oblivious."

"Yes, sir." The worker still looked uncomfortable.

Roark gave him a reassuring, yet still disappointed smile. "What did you call me for?"

"Oh, uh, yes. Um, you have a visitor, sir."

"Oh?" They began to walk to the exit. Roark smiled and nodded to the miners.

"Going home, already?" One of them called good-naturedly. "It's hardly noon!"

Roark grinned, "It's three. I think an early retirement is justified. Matter of fact," he said even louder, "Why don't you all call it an evening and go home?"

"Haha, don't need to tell me twice," someone said.

The miners all left together, laughing and joking with each other. They waved to Roark and mentioned they'd see him later. Roark gave a small shiver from the drastic change in temperature. The mine was usually pleasantly warm all year round, perfect for the Pokémon that called the mine their home, and the miners who worked there. The holiday season was approaching quickly, and the weather reminded them that it was not a summer's evening, but a bitter, late November's day.

"So, who's my visitor? What does he want? Is it a challenger?"

"Actually, sir…your visitor…uh, he's a she. I mean, she's a girl. There she is, sir."

He pointed over to the sand pile they called Zuri Mountain. Roark followed his gaze and looked over at the heap of sand. A girl stood, smiling and waving at the workers as they passed. She wore a simple gray blouse and jeans. A Larvitar stood beside her leg.

As they got nearer, Roark could make out more details. She had shoulder-length chestnut hair, and green eyes. Her eyes showed a little disappointment, probably like his. She didn't see them approaching and continued to wave at passing miners.

"Bye, have a nice day. Bye, have a good day, please," she said to them as she waved.

"Um, excuse me, miss," the worker said.

The girl jumped and looked at them. He smiled apologetically, "Roark the Gym Leader, miss. I'm sorry for startling you."

She smiled warmly, "No, please, it was my fault, really. I'm sorry that I didn't see you coming."

The worker grinned back nervously, "That's okay. I'm a little new here. My name's Shawn. It's not hard to miss me. Well, I better get going home. Bye, miss. Bye, Roark, sir."

"Bye, Shawn," they said in unison as Shawn left.

Roark and the girl looked at each other. She blushed and held out her hand, "Hello, my name's Lia. We had an appointment today?"

"Oh, that's right!" Roark wiped his dirty hand on his dirty pants and shook her hand. "I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting you until four."

"No, it's my fault. I came early. If I had known you were busy, I would have waited. I just wanted to have a quick word with you, I didn't mean for you to send everyone home."

"That's okay. I would have sent them home early anyway. I wanted to get ready before you came, you know, take a shower and stuff…. And I can't leave them unsupervised in there."

"Oh," Lia said softly.

"It's a little nippy out here, why don't we go to my house and talk there?" Roark suggested.

"Okay," she agreed.

They walked in silence as Roark led the way to his house. "So…that's a good-looking Larvitar you've got there."

The Larvitar gave Roark a dark look stuck his tongue out. Roark blinked.

"Thank you. Dew is my partner and friend."

"Dew?"

Lia smiled at Dew, "Yes. As you know, Larvitar are Rock Pokémon and weak against Water. So I thought that by naming Dew 'dew', after a form of water, we'd begin conquering Water by conquering the name."

"That's an interesting perspective," Roark commented on her logic.

"Thank you. Um, so you're like…a foreman? At the mine?"

Roark looked a little surprised at her question, "Yeah. I guess you could say that. My dad left me in charge of the mine and the gym when he left. Actually, I was excavating a fossil when Shawn told me you were here."

"Oh, really?" Her voice had a hint of excitement. "What is it? Where is it?"

"It was a fossilized Golbat. You're actually interested?"

"Yes! I love history. I think fossils are really cool, especially ones of Pokémon that exist now. You know, differences and stuff. For instance, a fossil of a Larvitar a million years ago is bigger then my Dew, even though the estimated age of said fossil is the same as Dew."

Roark looked taken aback by her enthusiasm. "Wow. You're the first girl I've met who's interested in what I do."

Lia blushed, and opened her mouth to reply, but Roark suddenly cried out in pain. The Larvitar had bitten his leg, and showed no signs of letting go. Lia could see a dark stain of blood creeping down Roark's leg.

"Dew! Let him go now!"

* * *

It's a cliffhanger, I guess you could say, at the suggestion of my friend Hyena-chan. It was originally over 2000 words (it's now about 1500) so I will have a 2nd chapter up pretty quickly.

Please review, it will make me update faster!

~dani


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you all very much for the reviews. They were all nice and encouraging, but I must admit that the one from **Gleeful Melancholy **was my favorite.

**Gleeful Melancholy**: Thank you so much. I'm so glad that you complimented me on my style and everything. I think that you were the first person to ever say that to me, so thank you very much.

Any suggestions for Roark's mom's name?

I have a few names, but you're all welcome to pick the one, or come up with a new once, since you will be reading this.

-Ivy

-Grace

-Elissa

-Gwen

-Serena

Like I said, please feel free to come up with your own, one that you think is fitting of Byron's wife and Roark's mother.

I don't own Pokémon.

Chapter Two

"Dew! Let him go now!"

The Larvitar growled and yanked Roark to the ground. In a flash of red light, Dew disappeared. Lia held the Pokéball up to her lips, her hand shaking.

"I'm ashamed of you," Lia whispered to the Pokéball.

Roark groaned and gripped at his leg. Lia kneeled next to Roark, "I'm so, so sorry. I don't know what came over him. Are you okay? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"No, I don't think it's that serious. I just need to dress it, that's all," He looked over to her to give her a reassuring smile, but frowned when he saw tears.

"You're bleeding," she whispered quietly and wiped her tears. "I'm sorry, I'm not crying because of you. I'm crying because of Dew. I don't understand how my sweet Dew could do this."

"I don't mean to be rude, but can we talk about this at my house? It kinda hurts."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she wiped her face. "Let's get you home right away!"

Dew had managed to bite Roark on his thigh, and Roark couldn't walk without support. Lia grabbed his arm and put it over her shoulders. "Okay, we're getting up now."

"You shouldn't—I mean, I'm heavy—"

She ignored him and they stood slowly. "I don't know where your house is, so you'll have to lead the way."

Their trek continued in silence. It was too cold for many adults to be outside, but children were seen running and laughing between houses. Few adults were out, but one of the miners was, and he immediately teased the pair. "Bout time you settled down, Roark!"

Lia blushed and Roark looked a little embarrassed as they walked past him, "I'm sorry, replying to a comment like that would only egg him on. They often make fun of me a lot, because I don't have a girlfriend. That's not by choice," he said quickly. "No girls seemed interested in _me_. The title of Gym Leader is really what they look at."

"I don't think that's quite true. The Gym Leader title probably is half of it…but I'm certain that looks play a part, too. I mean, look at Crasher Wake. He's a Gym Leader and I don't hear _anything_ about ladies lining up to be with _him_."

"What are you saying?"

Lia looked sharply over at him, addressing the slight edge in his tone, "I'm _saying_ that girls are interested in you because they think you're handsome."

Roark's cheeks tinged pink. "Oh."

"Did you think I was saying you were ugly?" Lia teased. "You don't have to answer. It was a rhetorical question. Though I'd be honored if you were, because that would mean that you care about my opinion, and we just met."

They continued to walk in an awkward silence. "Ah," Roark said, a bit relieved. "There's my house."

"That's your house? It's huge!"

Lia stared in amazement at the two-story house. It was a pretty tan color, with flower gardens accenting the corners. But the house looked a little run-down. As Lia looked more closely, she could see the paint was peeling and the flowers were dead, with weeds growing between. The little lawn was overgrown, the lifeless grass hunched over onto the sidewalk.

"You know," Roark looked embarrassed. "The house looks more dilapidated than I thought."

"Do you live alone in this big house?" They walked up the stairs and over to the door. A broken "Welcome!" sign hung on sideways on the door.

"Yeah. My mom moved out about a month ago, to go live with my dad in Canalave City. I never really paid attention to the state of the house, now that I think about it. I'm mortified to let you in. I've been running in and out for the past month. I've been a little lonely," he confessed as he opened the door. "That's why I thought I'd offer rooms for Gym Trainers. Unfortunately, the current Trainers I have are very young and live with their parents. Well, one of them. I sometimes forget that Jimmy and his family are moving."

"It seems like everyone is moving," Lia observed. "Your mom, Jimmy, Shawn. Well, he said he just moved here, but I think that counts, too…"

Roark pointed the way to the living room and she led them over a dusty couch where he sat down with a grunt. Lia laughed, and he gave her an offended stare.

"I'm not laughing at you. Well, I kinda am. When you sat down, dust flew up. It was…funny…. Where can I find medical supplies?"

"Uh. Bathroom. Upstairs, last room on the left. Underneath the sink."

While she was gone, Roark bent over to examine his leg. His pants were shredded from the Larvitar's sharp teeth. He took off his boots, ripped the pant leg off and paled at the sight of his leg. It looked a lot worse than it felt. Blood was trickling from the wounds, and his whole leg looked like it had been mauled.

"Oh-oh my…" Lia had returned, arms full of white boxes. "Oh my god, I am so, so sorry! That looks so bad! I should call for a doctor—"

"No, it's not really that bad. I just need to clean and bandage it, that's all."

Lia walked over and kneeled in front of him, "It looks horrible…" She glanced up at him, "You should take a shower."

Roark flushed, "Excuse me?"

"It doesn't make sense for us to clean your wound and then dress it with your leg all bloody like that. Besides, you were working in the mine, weren't you? Your clothes are dirty, and I bet you worked up a sweat, didn't you?"

"…I guess you're right," Roark sighed. "Yeah, I'll take a shower…"

"Um…" he glanced at her. "You aren't, um," her whole face was red, "you won't need, ah, assistance…will you? If you do, I can call for someone…"

Roark blushed too, "N-no! I'll be fine, if you can just help me up the stairs, I can handle it from there."

"No problem!" She dropped the boxes on the couch and bent over with her back to him. "Hop on! The stairs are too narrow for me to fully support you. Don't worry! I'm stronger than I look!"

Roark raised an eyebrow, "Uh…"

Lia leaned back and grabbed his hand, "All aboard!" she jerked him forward and he fell on her back, "Oof! You're heavier than I thought…oh, well. If we take it slow, we'll be fine!"

She tried to stand, her knees shaking. "Maybe," she panted. "Ugh, maybe we can walk to the stairs first."

Roark laughed, "Yeah, maybe we can do that." He stood up and balanced on his good leg. They walked over to the staircase, which suddenly looked like Mt. Coronet.

"Okay! Let's do this!"

Lia managed to get Roark on her back, and they began going up the stairs. By the time they reached the top, Lia was gasping for air.

"You okay?" Roark leaned against the wall while Lia recovered. "Yeah," she wheezed. "Just let me…catch my breath, kay?"

Roark regarded her with slight interest as she lay on the floor, "You really didn't have to go through all of that, you know."

"I…know…" she smiled up at him, "But it's my…fault that you're…injured. I had to…to do somethin'."

She took a deep breath and stood up slowly. "Ugh, I'll be sore in the morning…"

They walked to the bathroom door, and stood in front of it in awkward silence.

"Um…" they said in unison.

"Uh, you first," Roark said.

Lia blushed lightly, "Um, okay. I was going to ask if it would be okay if I cook something?"

"Cook something?" he repeated, looking down at her.

"Well, 'idle hands are the devil's playthings.' I thought if I cooked something, I'd be killing two birds with one stone." She smiled nervously.

"I understand the two birds, but what does the other one mean?"

"It's interpreted anyway you like, but this is what I think: If I'm not doing anything, that leaves my mind, my hands, to wander. It's something to do while you're in the shower, I like to cook, and I also feel that I owe you."

Roark shrugged, "Okay. But you don't really owe me anything. It's been a while since I've had a home cooked meal, anyway. I'm kind of tired of eating Hungry Man…"

"That's not food. That's an abomination."

He laughed, "Yeah, I guess. Well, I'll go ahead and uh, you know-"

"Yeah, I know." They separated. "You go ahead and 'you know' and I will go ahead and cook something."

"Sounds like a plan," Roark said while he limped into the bathroom, and shut the door quietly.

Lia didn't move until she heard the water running. She let out a big sigh, and held her face in her hands, "That's the first time I ever…was so close to…"

She regained her composure and smiled softly, "I'm such a dork…"

* * *

Roark shut the door softly. He paused a moment, and shuffled over to the shower. He turned the water on as hot as it would allow and leaned back. He took off his vest and shirt and threw them in the full dirty laundry hamper. He managed to take his pants and boxers off without bothering his leg. He stepped into the shower, and welcomed the scalding water onto his body.

Roark looked down and watched the dirt and blood mix with the water and flow down the drain. Damn, he was dirty. The house was dirty. And he brought a stranger over.

"At least mom and dad didn't come over." He paled at the thought of his parents seeing the state the house was in. They could show up at any given time. Christmas was right around the corner. His dad probably wouldn't care…much, but his mother would kill him.

"Oh…shit…"

* * *

Lia walked into the kitchen, and turned on the light. Compared to the living room, the kitchen was fairly clean. The whole house wasn't too bad. Just really dusty, and a bit messy. The kitchen was only dusty. And the garbage was full of Hungry Man 'meals' but that was the extent of the damage.

She laughed as she looked at the floor. The dust left a perfect print of Roark's steps. Entering the kitchen, to the fridge, to the microwave, to the dining table in the middle of the kitchen, and to the garbage.

"Like fossilized footprints…"

Lia walked over to the refrigerator, opened it, and then slammed it shut.

"Oh my god," she coughed. "That's foul…that's unholy."

She shuddered and walked over to the table. She pulled out a Pokéball and pressed the button. Dew materialized on the table and smiled at her, "Lar!"

His smile fell when she folded her arms. "Dew. Don't smile at me. Did you think I would forget what you did earlier? Why, why, _why_ would you do that?"

The Larvitar humph'd and looked away, his nose in the air.

"Dew," Lia grabbed his shoulders. Dew looked into her tear-filled eyes, "You don't get it, do you? If Roark wants, he could call Officer Jenny to report you biting him. You could get taken away from me, and put to sleep because of this."

Dew paled, "Lar, Lar!"

Lia wiped her eyes. "We have to make it up to him. We have to convince him not to call. I'm going to the grocery store, and you're going to stay here and clean."

Dew jerked, and shook his head. Lia grabbed his face, "You have to. Unless you _want_ to get taken away from me?"

"Larvitar!"

Lia stood up. "Clean thoroughly, Dew. He's in the shower right now, so clean as fast and as best as you can, okay?"

Dew gave up his mach act and nodded dolefully. "Lar..."

"That's my sweet Dewdrop!" Lia kissed Dew's nose. "I probably won't be back for a while, so please try not to pick a fight, okay?"

Dew nodded innocently. Lia smiled, "Kay! I'll be back soon."

Dew waved with one little arm until he heard the front door shut. He looked at his other arm, uncrossed two fingers, and smirked. "Larvitar…"


End file.
